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Station Profile Study

BART’s largest customer survey, the Station Profile Survey, was most recently conducted in spring 2015. Nearly 44,000 weekday customer interviews were completed, covering topics such as access modes to stations, origin and destination locations, and demographics.

The 2015 study used a new methodology – interviewer-administered tablet computer surveys. The previous study, conducted in spring 2008, used self-administered paper surveys.

A preliminary summary was presented to the BART Board of Directors in February 2016. Data for key questions by entry station and maps illustrating travel patterns are also posted below.

Highlights from the data files include:

The 24th St Mission station has the highest percentage of customers walking from home to BART (79%).

The Lake Merritt station has the highest percentage of customers bicycling from home (15%).

Customers entering at North Concord/Martinez travel the greatest distance to get from home to BART (median distance of 6.7 miles).

The top two home stations for students are Downtown Berkeley and Richmond.

Glen Park has the highest-percentage of long-term riders; 68% have been riding for 5+ years.

Looking at non-home based trips (i.e., riders coming from work, airplane trips, etc.), the SFO station has the highest percentage of first-time riders (15%).

The Station Profile Study has been an important source of ridership data for BART over the years; the first one was launched in 1973 and the latest one is the 14th such study in the history of BART. BART will use these data to plan for the future. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) projects that the nine-county region’s population will grow from 7.7 million people in 2015 to 9.1 million in 2035, an 18% increase.

Thanks to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for providing the majority of funding for this study.

Please note that these survey data are based on a sample of BART trips, not a complete census of BART trips. As such, the data are subject to margins of error and other potential biases which could impact the accuracy of the data. Please refer to "2015 Sample Sizes by Station" for survey sample sizes.